Cigarette making machine



Dec. 20, 1955 F. B. CARDER CIGARETTE MAKING MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 19, 1951 INVETOR FRANK B. CARDER BY 73 w ATTORN EY Dec 0, 1955 F. B. CARDER CIGARETTE MAKING MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 19, 1951 INVENTOR FRANK B. CARDER w l W ATTORNEY and 2 is adaptable for use 2,727,518 CIGARETTE MAKING MACHINE Frank B. Carder, Levittown, N. Y., assignor to American Machine & Foundry Company, a corporation of New Jersey 1 This invention relates to cigarette making machinery, and more particularly, to feeding apparatus for feeding shredded cigarette tobacco in a uniform quantity continuously to the rod forming mechanism of a cigarette making machine.

Heretofore, many devices have been designed for feeding tobacco in a uniform stream to the rod forming mechanism of a cigarette making machine. In some cases a column of tobacco has been employed and a detecting apparatus has been usedto feed more or less tobacco so as to maintain the uppermost end of the column between two predetermined limits. This type of arrangement has had the disadvantage that the tobacco sometimestended to hesitate or jam in the chute'and at other times the limits set have caused the column to fluctuate between these limits. All of these variations have been found to result in more or less tobacco being inthe column available for feeding from the bottom thereof. This, of course, resulted in fluctuations in the rod density, which is objectionable.

it is an object of this invention to overcome these disadvantages and provide a columnar type of intermediate feed which will avoid having tobacco become jammed in the column.

Another object of this invention is to provide an intermediate tobacco feeding device which will always have the same quantity feed tobacco uniformly.

A further object is to provide an intermediate feed for a cigarette maker which will have a leveling apparatus for constantly removing excess quantities above a predetermined columnar height.

Another object is to provide a, tobacco feeding apparatus employing a substantially vertical wall of tobacco wherein excess tobacco is constantly removed from the top of the tobacco Wall and conveyed backto the hopper for feeding a second time.

A further object is to provide an improved means for removing excess tobacco from a tobacco feed and conveying it back to the source of supply.

Other objects and features of the invention will appear as the description of the particular physical embodiment. selected to illustrate the invention progresses. In the accompanying drawings, which form a part'of this specification, like characters of reference/have been applied to corresponding parts throughout the several views which make up the drawings.

Figure 1 is a sectional end elevation illustrating the leveler in a tobacco chute of the tobaccofeeding'apparatus of a continuous rod cigarette machine.

Figure 2 is a front elevation of the same.

Figure 3 is asectional side ment employed to convey the surplus tobacco.

Figure 4 is a sectional side elevation of a conventional cigarette machine tobacco feed. I

The tobacco leveling device I have shown in Figures 1 bacco feeding apparatus of tobacco in a column and thereby withany suitabletype of towhich feeds tobacco in a i States P atefit '0 provide a narrow opening 21 .possible to handle the; less deposited in said intermediate chute 22 elevation of a venturi elei shower. For example, tobacco can be forwarded to the chute 20 by means of a simple conveyor belt 10 carrying a sprinkling of tobacco thereon. This is discharged directly onto the chute 20 which guides it to the leveling apparatus. In the feed I have used for purposes of illustrating a common type tobacco feed, there is shown the conventional feeding mechanism used for obtaining uniformity in the tobacco fed. This structure is shown and described in detail in US. Patent 2,109,200, granted to I W. Leary on February 22, 1938.

The conventional tobacco feed, shown in Figure 4, consists of a housing in which are mounted a carded feed drum 72 and a carded refuser drum 74. The feed drum 72 is mounted on a shaft 76 which is driven through a suitable gear train (not shown) from a power source such as an electric motor. Drive shaft 76, through sprocket 78, and chain 80 drives a sprocket 82 mounted on a shaft 84 to which the refuser drum 74 is secured, thus imparting rotating motion to the feed drum as well as to the refuser drum in the direction indicated by the arrow. To shaft 76 is secured another sprocket 86 which through a chain 88 drives a sprocket a suitable belt 102 drives a pulley 104 mounted on a shaft 106 which carries and supports pin roller 30.

As illustrated Figure 3 the tobacco is fed at a uniform rate from a supply of tobacco in the housing 70 by the feed drum 72. The tobacco so fed is removed from the feed drum 72 by means of a picker fan 108 and is showered onto the conveyor belt 10. The flat feed belt 10 delivers this layer of tobacco T onto a spiked feed or pin roller 12. Pin roller 12, assisted by a pressure roller said pin roller 12 by a rotating picker roller 18 and deposited into a feed chute 20.

As mentioned above, it will be understood that my invention maybe used with a plain belt 10. In this case, pin roller 12, pressure roller 14, concave frame member 16, and picker roller 18 would be omitted. This is posrelatively narrow intermediate chute 22, the bottom portion of which is connected to a lower feed housing 24. The intermediate chute 22 is tapered in such a manner as to at its upper end and a slightly wider opening 23 at its lower end. I have found a spacing of at the top and /8" at the bottom works very well. Deviations from these dimensions is of course different kinds and conditions of to- In general, the greater the height of the chute fluctuations there will be in cigarete weight. A height of 10 to 20" is usually sufiicient for handling most types of cigarette tobacco to obtain cigarettes hav- Adjacent to the upper end 21 of chute 22 is horizontally POSlilOIled a continuously rotating leveling roller 26 pro- I 23 which project )IiiO said chute 22 and assist and facilitate the movement of the falling tobacco deposited-from chute 20 into intermediate chute 22. Upon leaving the bottom opening 1 of the latter, the tobacco contacts a rotating pin roller 30 which, in conjunction with a concave frame member a. 32 acts as a metering device and conveys a steady stream of a predetermined amount oftobacco towards .a rotating picker fan 34. The picker fan 34 hurls the tobacco stream into a chute 36, which, together with concave frame member 32, form the aforementioned lower feed housing 24. The bottom opening of chute So is connected with and leads to a tobacco guide channel 38 mounted on a bracket 40 which, in a suitable track, supports the continuously moving collector paper or belt '42 onto which the tobacco showered into chute 36 is deposited.

' That portion of the leveling roller 26 which does not project into the intermediate chute 22 is surrounded by a suitably shaped housing 44 attached to the outer rear wall of chute 22 and connected to a suitable vertically mounted chute 46. The bottom opening 48 of the latter is connected to the upright member 50 of a tubular T fitting 52. "One of the horizontal outlets 54 of fitting 52 is connected to a tube 56 while the horizontal inlet 58 of said fitting carries a venturi member 60 which projects partly from inlet 58 and is connected to a tube 62 leading to any suitable source of forced air such as a conventional blower (not shown). This venturi has the advantage that it does not stir up much dust and provides for a minimum withdrawal of air from the secondary chute 46. Another advantage is that this arrangement avoids carrying tobacco through a fan blade (which would break up the tobacco strands) or the use of a cyclone separator.

If desired, other types of conveyors could be used for returning the excess tobacco back to the source of supply.

Slightly more tobacco is fed into the intermediate chute 22 than 'is taken away by the pin roller Q!) at the bottom of said chute. A column of tobacco C is there,- fore built up in the lower portion of chute 22 and this oversupply of feeding continues until the level of said column 'or wall will rise until it reaches the upper, horizontal edge of the rear wall of the intermediate chute 22.

As additional tobacco is showered down the chute 20, the pins 28 cause part of said tobacco to he pushed into column 22 to fill in any voids in the tobacco in the intermediate chute and to make up for the amount of tobacco taken away from the bottom of the column by the roller 30. This slight pushing results in the column acquiring a'uniform consistency. The surplus tobacco is carried around the horizontal edge 25 by the pins 28 and deposited into the vertical chute 46. The vertical chute, in turn, guides this surplus tobacco into the tubular T fitting 52. This tubular T fitting is provided with a venturi connected to a blower system which causes the surplus tobacco upon reaching the T 52, to be blown away into tube 56 which is preferably connected with the tobacco. feed chamber of the cigarette making machine where it is again forwarded back to the chute 20.

The venturi is so designed as to create a slight negative pressure at the entrance to T 52. This suction effect is desirable because it helps to carry the recirculated tobacco through the T constriction. It would be undesirable to have too high a suction effect as that would create currents in the return chute 46 which would draw an excess of tobacco from chute 22. l

' It will thus be seen that I have provided a device wherein the height of the column C is always at a constant elevation and the pressure of the tobacco column on the pin roller is always uniform. As a consequence, due to the leveling action of the leveler, my feed has the advantage that it feeds tobacco uniformly to the rod forming mechanism of a cigarette making machine regardless of irregularities in the amount of tobacco received from the source of supply. By forming the intermediate chute 22 with walls that taper out slightly on the bottom, I have avoided any tendency for thetobacco column to hesitate or become jammed between the walls .of-ithe .chute 22.

Another advantage of my invention is that if the cigarette rod becomes jammed and tobacco is not removed from the intermediary chute 22, all of the tobacco fed will become surplus and automatically removed and conveyed back to the sourceof, supply.

The invention above describ d may be varied in construction within the scope of the claims, for the particular device selected ,to illustrate the invention is but one of many po s ble embodiments of the same. T i vention, therefore, is not to be restricted to the precise details .of the structure shown and described.

What is claimed is:

l. A tobacco feed for a cigarette making machine comprising a source of supply of tobacco, a tobacco conveyor for feeding a stream of tobacco from said source of supply, a wide substantially vertical and rectangular flatwalled chute for receiving and confining tobacco received from said conveyor in said chute to form an upwardly extending column of tobacco, a picker roll positioned along the bottom of said wide-walled column for removing tobacco from the lower end of said column and feeding it to the rod-forming mechanism of the cigarette making machine, a drive for said tobacco conveyor for causing tobacco to be fed to said column at a faster rate than tobacco is removed from said column by said picker roll, a leveling device positioned at the upper end of said chute for removing excess tobacco from the top of said column so as to maintain said column at a constant height, and a conveyor system conneeted to said leveling device for returning excess tobacco removed by said leveling device from the top of said comma bask s the sou e of supp 2. A tobacco .feed for a cigarette making machine comprising a source of supply of shredded tobacco, a pair of spaced, upwardly extending walled surfaces, means for showering tobacco at a substantially uniform rate into the top 'of the space formed between said walled surfaces at a rate suflicient to form a column of tobacco,

means for removing tobacco from the lower end of said column at a slower rate than the tobacco is fed to the top of said column, an excess tobacco remover positioned at the upper end of said walled surfaces for removing excess tobacco from the upper end of said column of tobacco, and a conveyor for returning the excess tobacco so rernoved back to the source of supply of the shredded bac 3. Apparatus for feeding tobacco uniformly in a cigarette making machine comprising a pair of spaced walls for forming a thin, wide, vertically extending column of tobacco therebetween, a tobacco removing apparatus extendin along the bottom of said column for removing tobacco therefrom continuously at a predetermined rate, means for delivering tobacco to the upper end of said column at a faster rate than it is removed from the lower end of said column, a surplus tobacco removing apparatus extendirrg; along the upper end of said column for directing tobacco into said column and for removing surplus tobacco from the top. of said column to maintain said column at a constant height, and means for receiving the excess tobacco removed by said tobacco removing appa at s 4. A tobacco feed for a cigarette making machine comprising a feed for delivering tobacco at a uniform rate. in a wide stream,a wall along which said tobacco from the feed isshowered, a second wall spaced from said first wall to accumulate a wide column of said delivered tobacco between said walls, a picker roll extending along the upper edge of said second wall, means for rotating said picker roll in a direction to push said tobacco intothe space between, said walls and for removingexcess tobacco from. said space when the space between Sai walls. is full to. maintain said. column of tobacco at a constant height, means for receiving the excess tobacco removed by said picker roll, a pin roller extending along the bottom of said spaced walls for removing a uniform quantity of tobacco continuously from the bottom of said wide column of tobacco at a slower rate than tobacco is delivered to the top of said column, and means for picking the tobacco so removed from the pins of the roller and showering it upon the collecting tape of a cigarette making machine.

5. The method of obtaining a uniform feed of tobacco which comprises feeding tobacco continuously from a source of supply at a predetermined rate, accumulating the tobacco so fed in a thin, wide, vertically extending column, removing tobacco from the lower end of said column at a uniform rate slower than the rate at which tobacco is fed to the top of said column, removing all excess tobacco from the top of said column to maintain said column at a constant predetermined non-varying height, and then conveying the excess tobacco back to the source of supply.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

